part of the debate with Bates
he defines info as sthg exchanged bt people
semiotic theory-->communication bt ppl is signs and symbols, and is, therefore, subjective
Bates has a very classical, document-oriented view of info
Brookes-->once the thing exists in material form, it becomes independent of us
Buckland-->info is thing, a la Bates as useful for this field but recognizes that other perspectives are valid, though not as useful for professional practice
Hjørland
if it has to be organized an expressed, then it does take on sthg of a "thingy" character
he says it's not indep of human perception, (Leah agrees), but then he reverts to the old-school communications exchange model, but some thing is being exchanged and that's where the difficulty enters